User blog:LEGOSuperDKong/BrickFair VA 2013 (Day 3) - Overview From My Own Perspective
OK, a few days ago (Saturday, August 3rd, 2013), I went to the annual BrickFair Virginia event at the Dulles Expo Center. This is my overview of the day, with a little perspective thrown in as well as pictures and links. Let's start, hmm... at the beginning of the day. When we (my group/family) arrived at the place (with Brickkart), which was at about 10:40, we saw the line. And it was long... I mean, really long. The line extended from the entrance of the Center down the sidewalk, past the various shops on the side, and around the corner, where it continued to grow. Most of us didn't have tickets yet, so we waited in line. At first, I expected it to be gradual movement with lots of waiting in between. But it wasn't that way; people were coming out and selling tickets to those who didn't have any yet, and so after about 15 minutes (during which Brickforge freebies were passed out; I got a trans-blue sword), half of the line had bought tickets and thus moved into the building. We in the other half of the line moved somewhat quickly into the place, where we finally acquired tickets and then began browsing the various MOCs... How was the atmosphere inside? Many people were in the building. There was space where you could move around freely, but the larger, more attractive exhibits (especially those closer to the front/the Great Ball Contraption) had small crowds around them. People moved pretty quickly though, so it was possible for one to gaze at MOCs and grab pictures of them. It didn't smell bad or anything in the building, but it was kinda loud, so one had to speak with more volume in order to make himself heard. I'll add a video to aid your comprehension once I convert it from AVI. Now that you can get a general picture of the kind of environment I was in, I will elaborate on what I viewed inside the building. I believe the first thing that caught my eye, other than the large quantity of people, was a jet plane. It was maybe 8 feet long, with a wingspan of about 5-6 feet. The color of it was blue, with white wings and white streaks along the top and sides. Yes, it was large; see below: There was also a large black cathedral (ToaMeiko took a pic; it's even more impressive in real life), but as it was crowded around that, I didn't get to see it much until later. So my group then moved to the section with the vendors. The vendors were selling a lot of stuff; names like BrickArms, The Brick Show, Minifigures4u, and others were on the different stalls. My sister bought a pair of LEGO earrings. And of course, due to the many custom products there, there was a sign which read (I'm paraphrasing): "BrickFair wants you to know that not all the products are made by LEGO. LEGO lawyers want you to know that the use of the term "LEGO" as an adjective implies that the object described is a product of the LEGO company and therefore may not be used for custom items and blah blah blah. ) (Speaking of signs, at the entrance there was a notice that the place was under video surveillance and thus by being there you were in danger of appearing in the upcoming film "Bricumentary." Sounds pretty awesome to me. ) There was a massive military diorama around the vendors (the Invasion of Peleliu) and also a very long airport. After browsing the various shops (many of which were selling older sets for at least double their original price; UCS Darth Maul was there for $920), we moved on to the ILUGNY display. There I met C3Brix which was really cool. I saw two of his CUUSOO models there; the Enterprise and the Stark Tower (which is even more awesome in real life; pictures don't do it justice). As I was so enthusiastic about meeting him, he allowed Brickkart and me to each hold a canister (viewable here) containing an Iron Man suit; one white and custom and the other being the Iron Patriot minifig (from the videogame pre-order). Here's a picture of the Stark Tower taken with my 3DS; sorry that it's a little fuzzy. You will notice, among the vehicles navigating the streets of the displays, the Tumbler and the Pizza Planet pizza truck. I moved on to the tables lining the walls of the room, where I met User:Alden51. He had his giant-sized Zelda minifigures with him as well as his ocarina. Next to Alden was this cool model, however I did not get to meet the creator. I assume Alden did, though. NOTE: THIS IS TOTALLY UNFINISHED. CHECK BACK OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS FOR THE CONTINUATION/COMPLETION OF THIS LENGTHY BUT EPIC BLOG AND MORE PICTURES/VIDEOS TAKEN BY ME AND MY GROUP. Feel free to comment. :3 Category:Blog posts